NEW YORK (AP) — The start of spring training likely will be a casualty of Major League Baseball's lockout, which will threaten opening day unless the drawn-out talks lead to a deal in less than a month.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — The Super Bowl will come as a culmination of sorts for the NFL’s return to the Los Angeles area, a game featuring the home team that will bring Hollywood glamor to a superstar stadium in Inglewood, where Lakers, Kings and thoroughbreds once thrilled crowds.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kevin O'Connell realizes there are going to be plenty of questions about his next steps after the Super Bowl. The Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator prefers to keep the focus on the immediate task at hand.
CINCINNATI (AP) — Desmond Ridder likes to think the historic success of his Cincinnati Bearcats helped put the Bengals on the path to the Super Bowl.
“It’s pretty cool. I’d like to say we started them — we kind of helped them get to the playoff point,” joked the former Bearcats quarterback who is in Mobile, Alabama, this week preparing for Saturday's Senior Bowl.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Most of the world’s best hockey players are spending this weekend in opulent hotel suites in one of the planet's top party towns instead of being confined to modest Olympic accommodations in freezing-cold Beijing.
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Even for being located next to the ocean, the iconic finishing hole at Pebble Beach is short for par 5s by modern standards. That didn't keep Seamus Power, who has plenty of pop, from taking an iron off the tee and playing it as a three-shot hole.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — NASCAR's top stars have seen the Los Angeles Coliseum on television and they know what it looks like as a football stadium.
But as a racetrack? This they had to see right away, up close as soon as they arrived in Los Angeles.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — NBA statistics indicate Charlotte’s Terry Rozier has made 131 3-pointers this season.
In reality, he has made 130.
Rozier was credited with a made 3-pointer in Friday night’s 102-101 loss to Cleveland on a shot that never went through the hoop.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Tampa Bay's Victor Hedman won the Hardest Shot competition and St. Louis' Jordan Kyrou was the Fastest Skater during an NHL All-Star skills competition with a distinct Vegas flavor Friday night.
Sometimes, your top players aren’t at their peak and you still win.
Exhibit A: Colorado defenseman and Norris Trophy finalist Cale Makar.
TAMPERE, Finland (AP) — Sweden prevailed in a penalty shootout to edge host Finland 3-2 Wednesday for its fourth straight victory at the ice hockey world championship.
Emil Bemstrom was the only player to score in the shootout to lift Sweden to the top of Group B in Tampere with 11 points.
SEVILLE, Spain (AP) — Eintracht Frankfurt and Rangers fans clashed on the streets of Sevilla a few hours before the Europa League final on Wednesday.
Several hundred Frankfurt fans were seen attacking a few dozen Rangers supporters outside a bar on the streets of the southern Spanish city hosting the final of the second-tier European competition.
DENVER (AP) — Josh Manson was simply trying to hold his ground near the blueline with players flying at him.
Not on the winning goal — he was that open — but from the group of teammates charging his way.
DENVER (AP) — Josh Manson scored 8:02 into overtime, Darcy Kuemper made 23 saves in his return to the net from an eye injury, and the Colorado Avalanche overcame a sluggish start to beat the St. Louis Blues 3-2 on Tuesday night in Game 1 of their second-round series.
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Lightning won the first two games of their playoff series with the Florida Panthers on the road last year.
They're halfway to a repeat performance.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period, Andrei Vasilevskiy remained red-hot with 34 saves and the Lightning topped the Panthers 4-1 in Game 1 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series Tuesday night.
TORONTO (AP) — Brendan Shanahan got his housekeeping out of the way quickly.
In the wake of another playoff failure, the president of the Toronto Maple Leafs told reporters at the team’s annual post-elimination media availability — once again far earlier on the calendar than anyone associated with the organization hoped — that general manager Kyle Dubas and head coach Sheldon Keefe would keep their jobs.
FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Rick Bowness has been on an NHL bench for a record 2,562 regular-season games as a head coach or an assistant over nearly four decades. The 67-year-old coach is not ready to be done yet even though he is at the end of his contract with the Dallas Stars.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Wild stocked their net with a three-time Stanley Cup winner at the trade deadline, fetching Marc-Andre Fleury to form an accomplished goalie tandem with All-Star Cam Talbot down the stretch of the best regular season in franchise history.
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Brett Kulak has a confession to make. While the veteran NHL defenseman might have grown up less than 200 miles away from Calgary, he never paid much attention to the Flames until they selected him in the 2012 draft.
TAMPERE, Finland (AP) — Austria pulled off a major upset at the ice hockey world championship on Tuesday, stunning the Czech Republic 2-1 after prevailing in a penalty shootout.
It was Austria's first victory over the Czechs at a major tournament.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Carolina Hurricanes needed to finish the regular season strong to hold off the New York Rangers for the Metropolitan Division title. They are benefitting from that push as the teams meet in a second-round playoff series.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Evgeni Malkin wants to stay in Pittsburgh. So does Kris Letang. There's comfort in the only NHL city they've ever called home. Success too.
It's why neither three-time Stanley Cup champion has ever hit the open market during their long careers.
TORONTO (AP) — Maple Leafs winger Mitch Marner was the victim of a carjacking in Toronto, the hockey team said Tuesday as city police investigated.
Marner was not hurt in the carjacking that took place in east Toronto on Monday evening, the team said.
RED DEER, Alberta (AP) — The old Crown and Anchor bar in Red Deer was famous for its line drawn down the middle when hosting fans during the Battle of Alberta playoff games of the late 1980s.
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — Todd McLellan's Los Angeles Kings gained valuable experience after making it to the playoffs for the first time since 2018.
That will mean nothing if the Kings are unable to make more progress next season.
CHICAGO (AP) — Jeff Greenberg grew up watching Mario Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins. He played hockey all the way through the club level at the University of Pennsylvania.
It's that love for the sport that prompted Greenberg to take on a unique challenge.
With full arenas around North America buzzing for the NHL playoffs for the first time in three years, the first round overflowed with energy that sometimes amounted to blowouts and full penalty boxes.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Vegas Golden Knights fired coach Peter DeBoer on Monday in the aftermath of missing the playoffs for the first time in their five-year franchise history.
General manager Kelly McCrimmon made the announcement and thanked DeBoer for his work with the organization, but also said the team was looking for a fresh voice roughly four months before training camp opens.
TAMPERE, Finland (AP) — Sakari Manninen scored and added two assists for host Finland to beat the United States 4-1 and keep a perfect record at the ice hockey world championship on Monday.
After Mikael Granlund gave Finland a 1-0 lead on a power play in the opening period, Austin Watson was given a major penalty early in the middle period for a high hit on Teemu Hartikainen.
DENVER (AP) — Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog supervised his daughter’s soccer practices. Coach Jared Bednar did yardwork.
As soon as the NHL expanded to more than six teams, and television sets started showing games in color, the Toronto Maple Leafs were in trouble.
Once again, the hockey playoffs are moving on to the second round without the Maple Leafs, who will be watching the rest of the postseason from a familiar spot.
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions on one side. The Presidents’ Trophy winners on the other. Franchises separated by just a couple hundred miles of highway. And two teams that don’t like each other very much.
When the New York Islanders fired coach Barry Trotz, general manager Lou Lamoriello believed the team needed a new voice.
That new voice is coming from inside the same coaches' room.
The Islanders on Monday named Lane Lambert as Trotz's replacement, giving his longtime assistant his first head coaching job in the NHL.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — For the better part of two decades, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang have served as the foundation upon which the Pittsburgh Penguins built three Stanley Cup champions.
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Johnny Gaudreau saw the puck bouncing his way, so he raced over, slapped it toward the net — and sent the Calgary Flames to a Game 7 victory.
Gaudreau scored 15:09 into overtime to lift Calgary past the Dallas Stars 3-2 on Sunday night, giving the Flames just their second playoff series win in the last 17 years.
No one wanted to go home in the NHL playoffs' Game 7 matchups Sunday night.
The first-round elimination games between the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers and Dallas Stars and Calgary Flames went to overtime, marking just the second time in league history multiple Game 7s needed extra time on the same day.